IT IS Monday and, after two weeks of what is known at London Business School as “the flat-hunter pub crawls”—a long party before the official classes start—orientation week begins.

The statistics that get thrown out during orientation week are staggering. The MBA2012 class at LBS includes 61 nationalities and 45 languages. We represent countries from Belarus to Brazil, Chile to Canada and even Kazakhstan. In fact, now in week two, I have yet to meet a person that does not speak at least two languages. A fifth already has a Master's degree; 1% has a doctorate. We are the people who make up these stats and yet we stare at each other in poorly concealed awe.

One quickly gets a sense of the immense diversity at London Business School. Not just in country of origin but also in prior experience. Over the course of the next two days, during the many coffee breaks and drinks receptions, I met people from backgrounds as diverse as foreign services for the US government to entrepreneurs who had successfully started and sold more than one business.

I was, to say the least, nervous. Pangs of self-doubt crossed my mind. People seemed much smarter than me and some really seemed to have their game on, and this was the first week! Why had I given up my well-paid job and entered this place of awesome strangers? The answer was to follow. But first I made a pact with myself: to remember that I did deserve to be here and my experiences would add to the overall class experience. This is essential. I have already learned a lot from my classmates. Questions like what exactly is private equity or investment banking have been answered by complete strangers who sat next to me at dinner or lunch.

Now, back to orientation; two days of inspiring and entertaining speeches, cracking case discussions and networking opportunities. Kicked off by Sir Andrew Likierman, the school's dean, we were welcomed by many members of staff and faculty. Mohan Mohan, our executive-in-residence left us with laughs and important questions of self reflection (no, the path of self reflection does not end with the application essays). Sir Richard Jolly and Dr Henry Moon talk about “hurry sickness” and “social loafing” among peals of laughter. Abject terror turns into nervous anticipation.

I suffer from hurry sickness. An affliction characterised by the incessant need to move faster. Pressing the “close doors” button in a lift (incidentally, a mechanical placebo in 80% of lifts around the world), or using the 30 seconds while the microwave heats my coffee for another task. You get the point. Turns out, I am in good company. Hurry sickness is almost all pervasive. The pace of the upcoming 21 months is unlikely to cure me.

And then there is the concept of social loafing: people making less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone. Finally a real psychological term to describe some of the people I have worked with in the past. We meet our very diverse study groups and make many solemn promises not to socially loaf. We also meet with career services, who, in about thirty minutes, ensured that we weren't lulled into a false sense of complacency. (We are, after all, at a top-ranked global MBA programme. Why aren't the recruiters were just lining up for us?) The first two days are capped off by a speech and Q&A session by Nick Rogers, a triple Olympian. He focuses on teamwork, trust and decision making.

True team-building, however, took place during the away day. We carried 10 litres of water on tight ropes and swings without dropping any! We also scaled a 10 meter rock climbing wall blind-folded. Never before had I followed instructions so keenly and completely, or for that matter trusted a relative stranger so quickly. The piece-de-resistance was the pole climb which culminated in me, quite literally, hanging onto to my teammate for dear life, as we jumped off a 1'x2' platform 30 feet in the air aiming for a trapeze bar.

This really is the essence of the MBA at London Business School; teamwork, support, respect and an undeniable conviction that the future is bright. And this is why I am here.

Remember these early days. Keep the picture in your mind. And write a note to yourself to revisit these memories in your last term. You'll be astounded how fast the time goes by. It's going to be a great ride.
-James, Global 09